How to measure agile success with PRINCE2® Agile (Version 2)

Agile delivery is often praised for its speed and flexibility, but that doesn’t always make it easy to measure. Traditional KPIs don’t always fit iterative work, and many agile teams struggle to define what success looks like beyond completing a sprint or releasing a feature.

That’s why PRINCE2 Agile® (Version 2) now includes a clear, structured set of performance targets, helping organisations assess agile success in a way that’s measurable, meaningful, and aligned with broader business goals.

These targets are adapted from PRINCE2® 7 and bring consistency across project types, whether you’re delivering in agile, waterfall or hybrid environments.

The seven performance targets in PRINCE2 Agile

Agile teams often focus on velocity, backlog completion, or user story counts — useful data, but not always reflective of real-world impact. What organisations increasingly need is a way to connect agile work with broader outcomes: value delivered, risks mitigated, benefits realised.

That’s where PRINCE2 Agile’s updated performance targets come in. They shift the focus from just delivering outputs to delivering measurable results, making it easier for project professionals and stakeholders to align on what success actually looks like.

The seven performance targets introduced in Version 2 are:

• Benefits – Ensuring the project delivers outcomes that add value and justify investment
• Costs – Tracking financial performance to keep projects viable and efficient
• Time – Managing timelines to meet expectations while allowing for iteration
• Quality – Maintaining agreed standards across products, regardless of delivery speed
• Scope – Defining what will and won’t be delivered and adapting as priorities shift
• Sustainability – Considering long-term impact, including environmental and social factors
• Risk – Actively managing uncertainty and enabling safe-to-fail experimentation

These targets are practical, day-to-day tools that guide delivery teams, product owners and stakeholders in making better, more informed decisions.

Why these targets matter in agile environments

Agile delivery thrives on flexibility, but flexibility without focus can lead to misalignment. By using these seven targets, organisations can maintain a shared definition of success, even when delivery approaches vary.

For example, in an agile transformation project, “time” might refer not just to a delivery deadline, but to how quickly a team can learn and adapt. “Benefits” might be realised incrementally, through improved customer feedback or faster release cycles. And “sustainability” could relate to how well the new way of working supports long-term wellbeing, scalability, or environmental goals.

This broader lens is critical. It ensures that agile delivery doesn’t just feel successful but is successful when viewed against business priorities.

Supporting value-led delivery

One of the most significant shifts in PRINCE2 Agile (Version 2) is the focus on outcomes over outputs. Rather than celebrating task completion, the framework encourages teams to ask: what value have we created? What risks have we reduced? What benefits are now achievable?

The seven performance targets help to answer those questions and provide a consistent, agile-friendly framework for reporting, reflection, and improvement.

They also support agile governance, offering a bridge between empowered teams and accountable leadership. By aligning delivery metrics with these targets, teams can provide meaningful updates that resonate beyond the sprint and demonstrate progress in terms stakeholders care about.

A more structured approach to agile performance

For organisations already using PRINCE2 7, these performance targets will feel familiar, and that’s intentional. One of the aims of PRINCE2 Agile (Version 2) is to create harmony between agile delivery and structured project governance.

That means agile teams can tailor their workflows, tools and ceremonies while still reporting against consistent performance standards. It also gives PMOs and senior leaders a common language for evaluating progress, even in fast-changing environments.

Delivering with agility, measuring with clarity

Agile success doesn’t have to be vague or subjective. With the right structure, it can be measured, guided, and continuously improved. PRINCE2 Agile (Version 2) brings that structure, and with it, a clearer path to delivering value with confidence.

Whether you’re managing a digital product launch, running agile transformation initiatives, or working in a hybrid PMO, these performance targets provide a powerful foundation for agile accountability.

Want to learn how to apply agile metrics that truly reflect business impact? PRINCE2 Agile (Version 2) is now available through our live virtual classroom training. Alternatively, you can pre-order our eLearning.